Into Your Arms
by floatsodelicately
Summary: George has a crush on Hermione but will he finally do something about it? Their story told in flashbacks. Set during The Goblet Of Fire. (Previously called 'Take Me Dancing')
1. Where Can He Be?

_"I'm falling in love...I need to find my way back to the start" - Into Your Arms - The Maine  
_

It was uncommon to see a Weasley twin without a smile on his face. Students scattered as Fred Weasley stormed down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room, his robes billowing in a disturbingly Snape-like fashion that matched the stern look on his face.

_'Where is he?'_

Fred had been searching for George for what seemed like hours. There was no sign of him in their usual hang-outs or hiding places. This was the third time this week that George had disappeared, it was a couple of weeks into the new school year and in Fred's opinion, there had not been nearly enough pranking done by the infamous pair. He was getting frustrated, whenever he had a new idea to run past his brother, George was nowhere to be found.

_'Where is he?!'_

Charging up the staircase towards the Fat Lady, Fred barely paused as she called, "Passwo-", "Balderdash", he interrupted and pushed through the portrait into the common room. After a quick check around the room, Fred marched up the stairs to the 6th year boys' dormitory.

"Oi, Lee! Where's George?", Fred barked from the doorway.

Lee jumped and looked up from his essay, "Merlin, Fred! I know you two have that whole 'super stealth' thing but don't creep up on me like that."

"Sorry mate, have you seen George anywhere?"

"No I haven't, not since dinner. If he comes up here I'll tell him you're after him". With that Fred walked back to the common room. He stopped as he saw Ron and Harry playing chess in front of the fireplace and asked if either of them had seen George.

"No, sorry", Ron shrugged as he sat back in his chair.

_'Where can he be?!'_

Fred turned to leave but then flew back to Harry and whispered in his ear, "Hey, could I borrow the map? It's just I really need to find him and he's _always_ missing lately".

"Sure, I'll go get it", Harry said, making one last move (one which made Ron smile triumphantly) before he hopped away and up the stairs.

Sitting in Harry's seat, Fred turned to Ron who was looking at him suspiciously.

"What's so important that you need to see him so badly? Are you planning something? Am I going to wake up with green hair?"

"He's my brother. I need to find him."

"I'm your brother, you never need to find me this much."

"How would you know? If I need to find you, you obviously aren't around to hear me badger everyone about how much I need to find you."

"You're planning something", Ron said, narrowing his eyes once more.

"I need to actually be able to _find_ him in order to plan something, but the bugger doesn't stay around long enough for me to talk to him out of class lately", Fred sighed.

"So…that means no green hair?"

"Oh honestly Ron, if you want green hair so much I can arrange it for you!" Fred exclaimed, waving his arms in annoyance before looking over to the staircase where Harry was emerging with the Marauder's Map. Feeling his search coming to an end, he practically skipped over to Harry to take the old piece of parchment from him. "Cheers, I'll bring it right back!", he smiled and ran back up to his dormitory to use the map.

Lee looked up again as Fred entered the room, "See? You make noise, and I don't have a heart attack. Good system, eh?"

Fred waved him off, "Yeah yeah, great system, wonderful, now come on, help me find George!"

He put the map down on Lee's bed on top of his homework ("Oh don't worry, I wasn't busy or anything," Lee said sarcastically) and pointed his wand at it and declaring, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good". The lines of the map appeared slowly as the boys looked on. The names of students and teachers popping up around the castle and still no sign of George.

_'He wouldn't have gone off the grounds would he? No, he'd tell me if he was sneaking out. But he isn't telling me where he's swanning off to all the time._ W_hy is he keeping secrets? We never keep secrets! I even told him about that dream I had about Trelawney in fourth year! Ergh, now I'm thinking about that! No!' _Fred shook his head.

"What is he doing? Where is he?!"

"Calm down Fred, it's probably nothing", Lee said while looking at his increasingly flustered friend.

"Well why hasn't he mentioned anything to anyone?! I've tried everywhere and anyone I can think of and no one has seen him!" Fred cried, searching the map frantically.

"I don't know...hey," Lee smirked, "maybe he's got a secret girlfriend."

"No," Fred shook his head, "George wouldn't keep a secret like that and he wouldn't even look at anyone who isn't-oh. Oh!"

_'Of course!'_

Lee looked confused, "What?"

Fred sighed, eyeing to the corner of the map he now knew he would find his brother's name. "Who has George been mooning over since the train ride back to school in third year?"

"What? Oh! Oh right!" Lee smiled and his face relaxed as he worked it out. "So have you found him?"

"Yep!" Fred said, prodding the 'George Weasley' name tag he had just located sitting at a desk before pressing his wand to the map, "Mischief managed". After the parchment was blank and refolded, Fred picked it up and stepped away from the bed "I'm gonna go talk to him. See ya later!" he said as he jogged towards the door and down the stairs.

He ran through the common room he tossed the map back to Harry with a quick "Thanks" and continued to tear his way through the sea of Gryffindors and out through the portrait. Fred kept running through the corridors, around the students and ghosts that roamed the hallways, until he found himself at the doors that were hiding his _beloved twin_.

Taking a deep breath he opened the door and shot a wide smile at Madam Pince which she returned with a sharp glare. '_Oh really! It was one tiny flood! And we waterproofed the books first so it's not like there was any real damage!'_ Ignoring this, Fred turned his head to the tables, grinning as his eyes landed on a mop of red hair identical to his own.

_'Found you.'_


	2. Stalker Territory

Fred was beaming as he strolled up to his brother in the library and parked himself in the seat beside him. George was staring into space, his quill dropping ink onto the parchment in front of him. Well, he was staring into_ a_ space. The space previously occupied by a certain Gryffindor girl. Fred was content to stare at his twin stare at the seat until the girl returned to her seat with more books and George caught himself and returned his gaze to his essay.

Still unnoticed, Fred leaned in and whispered, "Oi! Gred! Quit staring at her, you'll freak her out!"

George jumped and his textbook flew off of the desk, landing with a loud thud. Looking around, he saw that most eyes in the room were on the two of them. After a loud "Tsk!" from Madam Pince, he hurried to pick up his book and went back to his seat while glaring at his twin.

"I don't know what you're talking about", George mumbled.

Fred smiled, "Oh I think you do. _You_ keep going missing and_ I_ think you're coming here to stare at the lovely Miss Granger."

"I am not staring at Hermione!"

"You know, Lee said you might have a secret girlfriend but _I knew_ you were stalking Herms again. "

"Don't call her 'Herms'," George interrupted, "and I am not stalking her!"

Fred raised his palms in mock-surrender, "Ok, whatever…so has she noticed you being a creepy stalker?"

"No! I am not a creepy stalker!" George whispered furiously, slamming his quill down on the desk and turning his body to face Fred completely, "Why are you here?"

"Just to tease you," he whispered with a smile and a wink. "And come on, four years of gazing at our bushy-haired-"

"Stop that!"

"-friend over there, without making a move? Stalker territory."

George shifted uncomfortably and turned back to the desk, "I have not been _'gazing'_ at her for four years."

Fred looked at his brother and sighed, "Whatever, mate. Just get a move on, ask her out soon or you might not get a chance."

"What?!" George's head snapped towards him quickly, "What do you mean? What's happening? Does someone like her?"

"Woah, calm down there Georgie-boy. I'm just saying, our 'Mione is a young woman" he draped an arm around George and continued, "she's blossoming like a rose in the spring time and transforming like a beautiful butterfly emerging from a cocoon of caterpillary-ness and –"

George shrugged Fred's arm off, "Have you been testing products without me again? What are you talking about?"

"Oh forget it! George, 'Mione's pretty, sooner or later, others are going to realise it too. Not everyone will back off because of your crush."

"But I can't, she'll say no. Then what? She never talks to me again? She stops talking to Ron? Never comes back to the Burrow? Marries Malfoy? Then-"George was gaining in speed and volume and was interrupted by a harsh "SHHH!" from the crabby librarian. The pair grabbed their bags and made for the exit after a whispered apology to Madam Pince.

Closing the door, Fred turned to George and smiled, "Ok, I think you skipped a couple of steps back there but none of that would happen anyway!"

"You can't know that, there's no point, it doesn't matter", George muttered, his shoulders slumped as he started to walk back to the common room.

"George!" He shouted, stopping him by grabbing his shoulders and shaking him roughly, "The whole time we were talking she was looking at you! She_ is_ interested! Honestly, if you two knew how annoying you were to be around we wouldn't have this problem. You look away, she looks at you. She looks away, you look at her. You're infuriating and you don't even know it!"

"Really?" He questioned, with a slight smile on his face.

"Yes, you daft git! But do something soon or else you won't just be competing with the Hogwarts lot. With the tournament coming up there'll be lots of manly men trying to win the lady's heart", he said with a playful bow. "Maybe she'll shack up with one of the Durmstrang boys…"

"She won't 'shack up' with anyone," George huffed.

"Ha! Who knows? She might even surprise us all and bag herself one of the birds from Beauxbatons!" Fred laughed.

George shared a smile, "Ok, now you're just being stupid."

"I dunno mate, maybe 'Mione goes weak at the knees for 'ze French accent'!"said Fred, wiggling his eyebrows at his twin with a smirk as they made their way back to their dormitory.

"Oh and before I forget, Ron wants us to help him dye his hair green so we should really get on that," he said, with a serious expression before cracking into a devious grin.

* * *

A.N.

It's un-beta'd so I'm sorry for any mistakes. And also sorry for any OOC-ness. Leave any suggestions or tips or anything :) thank you for reading.


	3. We Pay Attention

Hermione made her way back to the common room later that evening, struggling to carry the stack of books she had taken out of the library. Her hair was falling out of the messy bun she had piled it up in earlier, her curls framing her face. It was only a few minutes until curfew but she had been _distracted_ in the library and had to stay later than planned to finish her essays.

_'_Stupid_ me staring at _stupid_ George and almost missing this _stupid_ curfew.'_

So now she was rushing back, hurrying down the corridors towards the Fat Lady. When she finally reached the portrait, she was out of breath and her cheeks were flushed. "Passwo-" "Balderdash!" she puffed out between breaths, the portrait swung open as the Fat Lady grumbled "So rude, these students, no patience anymore! I can't even get one word in before they interrupt!"

"Where have you been?" Ron questioned as he saw Hermione stumble through the portrait with an armful of books.

"In the library doing some homework", she shrugged off her bag and landed inelegantly on the seat beside Harry in front of the chessboard.

"In the library?! All evening?!" Ron exclaimed as Harry chuckled quietly. "But it's Friday! You've got all weekend to do that! Really Hermione, your priorities are all wrong", he laughed looking away from her and returning his attention to their game as he was about to beat Harry, _yet again_.

"Well _Ronald_," she huffed, "since we have essays from History of Magic and Potions to complete for Tuesday and something tells me that I'll be spending my Monday evening 'checking' yours since you two do nothing but play chess and fly about on brooms after class, I like to get mine done as early as possible."

"Hey! I do my own homework!"

Hermione fixed him with a look and he sank back into his seat, "Well…I try to do it but Herms you're so much better at school stuff than I am", he pouted.

As Hermione opened her mouth to object to Ron's use of that _hideous_ nickname, Fred and George popped up behind her on either side, "Don't call her 'Herms'!" George called from her left.

_'Ok, so maybe not 'stupid George', more like sweet, caring George who doesn't call me dumb nicknames…_'

She smiled and turned to him, "Thank you Geor-"

"I can call her 'Herms'!" Ron interrupted loudly, looking offended at his brothers.

"Oh no you can't" Hermione scoffed, shaking her head vigorously at her friend.

"What?" he looked over at her confused, "But, I_ always_ call you 'Herms'..?"

"Yes," said Harry, snickering at his two best friends, "and she _always_ tells you to stop calling her 'Herms'."

"Honestly, can't ickle Ronniekins take a hint?" Fred joked, walking over and reaching out to ruffle Ron's hair.

"Really Ronnie," George piped up, following his brother towards the sofa by the fire, "that's not a hint, that's a pretty clear statement."

Swatting Fred's hand away, Ron crossed his arms and muttered, "How do you know anyway?"

"We pay attention, little brother", George smirked before Fred coughed out a "_You_ do!" and elbowed him in the ribs. Fortunately, not many others seemed to notice. Unfortunately, Hermione did, causing a blush spread across her cheeks and she hid her face from the boys in one of the textbooks.

_'What does _that_ mean? No. It didn't mean anything. George couldn't possibly like me.'_

The twins settled onto the sofa and Hermione quickly glanced up from her Transfiguration text to see George glaring at Fred with a blush identical to hers on his face as Fred smiled back innocently.

_'Could he?'_

* * *

A.N.

Sorry this is short, thank you for the reviews and alerts :)


	4. A Tiny Squirrel

They were alone in the common room, sitting by the fireplace in opposite armchairs. She was reading a muggle book, a classic novel that was almost completely worn after how many times she had read it. George looked over at her and before he knew it, he was staring. Staring in that hopeless, lovesick way that Fred and Lee always teased him for. Hermione glanced up from her page and caught him staring at her, she looked confused and asked him if there was something wrong. Before he could even think about it, before he could think of an excuse for his odd behaviour, he had announced it.

"I love you."

_'Well…that's one way to do it.'_

He stared at her, shocked by his outburst, waiting for her to say something.

Hermione stared back at him, wide-eyed with her mouth opening and closing as she tried to respond.

_'Ok, maybe it was wrong to blurt it out like that…why isn't she saying anything? She should say something, shouldn't she? Oh Gods! She hates me! I knew this would happen. Fred was wrong. I was right. She'll never speak to me again. Ok so she won't marry Malfoy, but she'll still hate me forever.'_

After a few moments of awkward silence, he couldn't take it. Jumping out of his chair, he started fumbling for ways to apologise to her, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to- it just came out! I was thinking and then it fell out of my mouth before I could stop it!" He started pacing, wringing his hands together as he searched for what he could say to make her understand, "It's just, you're amazing and gorgeous and you do this thing with your face when you're mad and you look like a tiny squirrel and-"

She interrupted his ramblings, "I look like a squirrel?"

"No! Well yes, but only when you pull that face. _Oh no_. This is not going well at all…I'll go. Forget this happened. _Please_ forget this happened!" he said, walking away briskly to make a quick exit. He made it right up to the staircase when he heard her.

"I…I think I love you too."

_'What?'_

"What?" he said, out loud this time. He turned his face to look at her, the glow from the fireplace making her chocolate brown eyes even warmer. Her hands folded on top of the book in her lap as she sat in the armchair across from the one he had been using. She met his gaze with a small shy smile on her face.

_'She's beautiful.'_

"George, I said-"

"I heard!" he said, rushing over to kneel in front of her seat, a wide smile on his face as he took her hands in his, "Do you? Really?"

"Yes, I do." The way she said it, completely sincere and totally firm, as if she'd thought about it a lot in her charming_ Hermione_ way, removed any doubt from George's mind. He gingerly swept his thumb across her cheek as he leaned in to kiss her.

"George?"

"Yes love?"

"George?"

_'That voice? It's not Hermione…whoever it is can wait, clearly I'm a bit busy at the moment!'_

"Oi! Georgie!"

_'Oh no.'_

Hermione disappeared, so did the common room, only to be replaced by the walls of his dormitory and the devious grin of his twin brother who was hovering beside his bed clutching a pillow.

"Quit dreaming about making a Quidditch team of little ginger-haired brainiacs and get your lazy backside _out-of-bed_!" Fred ordered, punctuating the last part with smacks from his pillow. "Come on, or else you'll miss breakfast and I'm not putting up with you getting crabby with me, we've double Transfiguration and you know how Minnie gets."

"Murmphh!" George grumbled into his pillow.


	5. Getting Amorous With Us Too!

George was still in a zombie-like state as he entered the Great Hall following behind Fred and Lee. Without really paying attention to where they had led him, he sat down and groaned into his hands.

"Are you ok George?" asked a voice from his left.

_'It would have to be her…'_, George's mind was still flooded with images from his dream. The warm glow of the firelight, her hands held in his, her eyes fluttering shut as he leaned in to kiss her. He hadn't even noticed that he was staring at her until Fred's hand reached over the table and waved in front of his face, disturbing him from his daydream. "Yes, yes. Fine. I'm fine. I'm great! You? How are you? Are you ok?" he rushed.

"Erm…ok. I'm good thanks," her brow furrowed as she continued to look at him, "Are you sure that you're ok? You look a bit flushed, are you ill?"

"No no!" he cried, ignoring the chuckles from Fred and Lee's side of the table, "I'm really fine, I'm just tired, that's all."

"Tired? It took us _ages_ to get you out of bed! You were dead to the world, mumbling about squirrels or something."

George stared at Lee with wide eyes. _'I was talking in my sleep? How much did they hear? Oh no, they'll never let me live this down!'_

"Squirrels?" Hermione asked.

"Mhmm," Fred nodded, "tiny mad squirrels apparently, he was saying how much he loved them."

_'Oh no.'_

"Stop it! We are not talking about my dreams! And I do not love tiny mad squirrels. They just came up in conversation that's all," said George, tucking into his breakfast, avoiding the curious eyes of his friends. "So, when are the other schools getting here for the tournament?"

"The 30th of October, there's a welcoming feast that evening," said Hermione before turning back to Ron and Harry who were still talking about Quidditch.

"Nice subject change, Gred. Almost didn't notice it. What happened in your dream?"

"Nothing Forge," he sighed, "can you please drop it, I'm too tired for this."

"No, I won't drop it, you seemed awfully happy in your sleep -"

"Well it was a good dream, leave it –"

"Then you puckered up, you almost kissed Lee when he got too close!"

_'Oh Gods no'_

"What?!"

"Yeah, I know! Now we don't just have to worry about you talking in your sleep, you're getting amorous with us too! What happens if we let our guard down and you steal our virtue in your sleepy lust-driven state?" Fred cried dramatically, wrapping his robes securely around himself to protect his _vulnerable virtue_.

Hermione glanced over at the words 'lust-driven state' and met George's eyes, both of them looked away abruptly while blushing a furious red.

_'She just had to hear that bit, now she thinks I'm a pervert.'_

"Shut up, both of you," he whispered harshly to his friends as they tried to breathe through their loud giggles.

"We're just yanking your wand, Georgie. Oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that, giving you inappropriate ideas…"he said before collapsing into a fit of giggles once more.

"Come on, you prats, McGonagall awaits us!" he smiled, trying to regain his composure while pulling his bag onto his shoulder and getting up to leave.

* * *

George had barely entered the common room when Fred ran up to him, "So…how are you going to woo your fair maiden?"

"What is it about this situation that makes you turn into some kind of medieval poet? Wooing and 'thy lady's heart's' and now she's a 'fair maiden'?"

Fred grinned, "I'm just a romantic at heart, dear brother. But seriously, the Durmstrang lot get here in three days and how many times have you seen her?"

"I see her every day," he answered, slightly confused at his questioning, they were together most of the time too so Fred would know when he'd seen Hermione.

"No, I mean when was the last time you talked to her _alone_. Not in a group. Not staring at her from across the library. Just the two of you."

"Erm…well there was Sunday. We were in the common room and-"

"Nope." Fred interrupted, "I remember that, I was there. That doesn't count. And a chat about muggle gadgets? Really? Who are you getting relationship advice from? _Dad?_"

"Well I don't know then! It's hard! You've never had this problem! You just wink at girls with that stupid expression-"

"We're identical, it's your 'stupid-'"

"-and they go weak at the knees. I like _one girl_ and you know that wouldn't work on her!" George exclaimed.

"Calm down mate," Fred said, clapping his hand onto George's shoulder, "You just need to relax and talk to her, don't think about trying to impress her, she likes you as you are. Now I've had enough of sounding like a sap so let's go get Lee and Oliver, see if they want a game of exploding snap. I heard Oliver's going mental with Quidditch cancelled this year."

George agreed and followed Fred towards the tables in the common room where they found the other two. During their exchange they hadn't seen Hermione walk into the common room close behind them and had heard every word. She wandered to the staircase leading to the girls dormitories with a dejected look on her face.

_'Who is George's fair maiden?'_


	6. An Insufferable Pleb

Hermione woke up the next morning and got dressed in a zombie-like state similar to George's the previous day. When she joined Ron and Harry at the breakfast table, Harry noticed that she seemed unhappy, which was quite unusual. Since they had been back at Hogwarts, Hermione had been bordering on chipper all the time. Even at the Burrow during the summer she seemed a lot happier than today. He would have assumed that it was down to schoolwork replacing the time they spent together as a trio and with Ginny and the twins, but it was Hermione, she loved school.

_'What's wrong with Hermione then?'_

Harry noticed that her odd behaviour did not stop after breakfast. By the end of lessons that day, even Ron had worked out that something was wrong. She wasn't volunteering to answer questions in class, and when she was asked by the professors she answered quickly and quietly instead of a clear voice speaking as if reading from a textbook. Professor Snape didn't call her a know-it-all or take any house points. He just looked at her in shock when she didn't insist on answering his questions. Hermione was barely talking to Harry and Ron, never mind anyone else, most of the fourth years in their classes had noticed her sadness and wondered what had happened to their _'Gryffindor Princess'_.

While Harry was trying to deal with Hermione's mysteriously sullen behaviour, Fred was trying to soothe George's frustration. George had finally decided that he needed to relax and just talk to Hermione without freaking out but now she wouldn't even_ look_ at him. He was trying everything. He tried laughing loudly to catch her attention, sitting close to her at the lunch table. He even asked her to pass the salt which she did, but she didn't look up. Fred was attempting to distract George with new product suggestions and new prank ideas, but he couldn't focus. Every so often, his eyes would slip over to the corner table where she was sat with Ron and Harry, staring determinedly at her parchment to avoid her eyes from landing on George.

_'Did I do something? Not noticing is one thing, but pointedly ignoring me is another! How can I fix whatever I did? I know! I'll ask Harry!'_

The twins waited until Hermione and Ron had both left before walking over to Harry. He looked up at them suspiciously but couldn't keep it up as he sighed exhaustedly, "What is it?"

"Woah there, Harry! Might want to take it down a notch! A little too cheery for this time of night," Fred joked, taking the seat opposite him leaving the other open for George.

"Sorry guys," he replied, "it's been a weird day."

"How so?" asked George.

"It's Hermione. I've got no idea what's wrong. No one does. Even Snape noticed that something was wrong so it's got to be bad."

George wasn't sure whether to smile or not,_ 'So it wasn't me. Maybe? Either way I have to fix what's wrong.'_

Harry continued, "Has she said anything to either of you? She always talks to you. Why is that by the way?"

"Erm…erm…I don't know. Fred? Do you know why that is? I don't know. Why would you say that Harry? She's your best friend, why wouldn't she go to you?" George rambled, the other two staring at him in astonished and awkward silence.

Fred decided that enough was enough. "Look, Harry. George has been in love with 'Mione since he met her looking for that toad of Neville's, now she won't look at him and he has been a _right prat_ all day. He was wondering if he had done something to upset her since she's ignoring him now."

George kicked his brother under the table and looked worriedly at Harry who was smirking at him. "So you like her too then?"

"What?! She likes me? It didn't seem like that today. Maybe she's changed her mind. She hates me. Fred! I told you she would end up hating me!"

"Relax!" Fred and Harry whispered harshly, they didn't want to draw any attention and George was waving his arms dramatically and getting increasingly louder. Harry carried on, "Listen, I'll talk to her and try find out what's happened. Ok?"

George nodded, still blushing brightly after Fred's confession and his outburst. Harry got up and walked to the staircase leading to the girls dorms. The special enchantment on those stairs had him waiting at the bottom for another girl to pass by - he'd learned the hard way not to attempt to climb them. Finally Lavender Brown walked into the common room and made her way over to the stairs, Harry hastily asked her to get Hermione for him and after a few minutes she appeared.

"What's the matter Harry?" she asked.

"Nothing's the matter. Not with me at least. Can I talk to you about today?"

"W-w-why?" she stuttered, her eyes avoiding his uncomfortably.

He sighed, "That's why. Something is wrong. Please tell me Hermione, I want to help you."

"Honestly Harry, nothing is wrong with me," she said, turning to walk back up the stairs.

"Is it George?" he burst out.

She span around sharply, her expression stern and guarded, "Why would you say that?"

"Erm, well, I've just noticed that you…erm…notice him…maybe in a _non-friendly_ way?" Harry squirmed under her gaze.

"_'Non-friendly'_? Of course he's my friend, why would you-"

He cut her off, "Not 'non-friendly' as in an enemy, you don't treat him like he's a Malfoy or anything. I just thought that maybe you liked him _more_ than that?"

She stared at him, completely lost for words. _'Of course Harry noticed, not everyone is as slow with these things as Ron.' _She released a breath and collapsed down onto the bottom step, Harry knelt on the floor beside her (still not willing to risk the stairs turning into a slide). "Fine, I do. But it doesn't matter. He likes someone else."

Harry let out a soft chuckle and her head snapped up in offence, "I'm not laughing at you, I'm glad you told me. But from what Fred said earlier, you don't have to worry about George not liking you. What would give you that idea?"

"Well," she said, looking slightly happier but still ill at ease, "I overheard him and Fred talking about some 'fair maiden' so he couldn't like me if he's interested in someone else!"

Harry laughed harder this time at her cluelessness, "For the brightest witch of our age, you really can be dim sometimes. Did you consider that maybe _you _are his 'fair maiden'" and with that he clapped her on the shoulder and left, not walking back to the twins until she had returned to the dormitory. "Got your info, lads!" he cried.

"What is it? What did I do?" George asked, rushing forward towards Harry.

Harry looked at his panicked expression and patted his shoulder, "It was a misunderstanding. It seems that she overheard something about 'fair maidens'" he said, raising an eyebrow at the two, "and thought you were into someone else. Her weirdness today was because she likes you."

"But she's my fair maiden! Gods, now I'm doing it too! Fred keeps talking like he's in the middle ages and now apparently it's rubbing off on me," he exclaimed while glaring at his brother who bowed teasingly at him.

"Well, good sir, it seems that it will not take long to win thy maiden's heart," he declared, "perhaps we should adjourn to the kitchens since thou wast being an insufferable pleb all evening and hast made me miss my feast!"

George looked at him for a while, before his stomach rumbled at the thought of dinner and made his decision for him. As he walked through the portrait, it finally sunk in and a wide smile spread across his face for the first time that day.

_'She likes me too.'_

* * *

Hermione walked up the stairs after her chat with Harry almost as if she was in a trance. She went into the bathroom and washed her hair, brushed it and dressed in her nightclothes, all without saying a word to the other girls who were also preparing for bed while gossiping. She climbed into her bed and drew the curtains shut. As she gathered the bedsheets around herself, she smiled as it finally sunk in.

_'He likes me too.'_


	7. Yesterday's Jam

**_Last chapter:_**_ A wide smile spread across his face for the first time that day. 'She likes me too.' As she gathered the bedsheets around herself, she smiled as it finally sunk in. 'He likes me too.'_

* * *

**1****st**** September 1992**

Fred, George and Lee were in their compartment on the Hogwarts Express, they were all talking excitedly about their summers, even though Lee had been over at the Burrow only a week ago. They were about to start their third year at Hogwarts and they were already the best pranking team since their idols, the Marauders. After an hour or so, Fred and Lee sat on the floor for a game of exploding snap while George watched out of the window, half asleep.

It was at that point that they heard a soft knock before the compartment door opened and they all turned to see who the intruder was. George looked over to see a girl, younger than him, probably a first year. She had long curly hair that frizzed out into a charmingly untameable style. He found himself mesmerised by her eyes, they were like deep, warm pools of…_something brown…_mud? _'Wow, George,' _he thought,_ 'just what every girl wants to hear, "Your eyes look like mud"…chocolate, that's good. Everyone likes chocolate…what is she saying?'_ He had zoned out for a second and missed her speaking, now she was looking expectantly at him, as were Fred and Lee.

"Forgive my brother, he got dropped on his head too many times as a baby," Fred cut in smoothly before looking at George, "Have you seen a toad anywhere?"

"A toad?" George repeated dumbly.

"Yes, a toad," Fred said, "you know? Ribbit ribbit?"

Lee looked confused for a moment, "Do toads ribbit or is it just frogs?"

"I don't know, hey," Fred stopped, turning back to Hermione who was watching them with a tired expression that George often saw on his mother's face when they got off on a tangent, "maybe when you find the toad you can ask it if it ribbits?"

"So none of you have seen it?" she said with a sigh. George had almost spaced out again at the sound of her voice. It was perfection. She had a nice voice, her accent was posh but not in the drawling aristocratic way he associated with the Malfoys, sweet but not in the sickly manner that the girls in his year were starting to adopt to gain male attention, he hoped that he would get to listen to it more.

"No, sorry," the three boys chorused before Fred and Lee returned to their game. The girl sighed again and made to walk back out of their compartment. George leapt up from his seat, "I could help you look, if you'd like?" Fred and Lee looked shocked by his offer. So did the girl. If he could see himself, he was sure that he would too.

"Tha-that would be great, are you sure?" she asked, somewhat timidly.

"Yeah," he smiled, thrilled when she smiled back, "I've got nothing else to do on here." She left the compartment and he followed her.

"So what's your name?" he asked after a brief moment of silence.

She looked up at him with her bright _chocolate_ orbs, "Hermione Granger, yours?"

"George Weasley, back there was my brother Fred," he said, jerking his head back in the direction of the cabin, "and Lee Jordan, he's our best mate."

"Weasley? Like Ron Weasley?"

"So you know my brother…?" he asked, nervously for some reason.

"I met him looking for Neville's toad earlier. He tried to turn his rat yellow-"

George interrupted with a loud laugh, "He tried it? Oh, you just have to give him a rhyme and he believes any 'spell' you can come up with!"

She laughed with him quietly, "Well, needless to say, it didn't work. Do you do that to him often?"

"Far too often for him not to learn," he smirked, "last week we got him with a charm to vanish the gnomes from the garden."

"What happened?"

"They vanished…but then reappeared in his room," he chuckled, "they were livid, biting him everywhere they could by the time he found them. Poor bugger."

"That's terrible," she said, fighting a laugh but unable to hide her smile from him.

They chatted easily as they walked down the train, stopping in various cabins to check whether anyone had seen Neville's long lost toad, Trevor. After quite some time with still no confirmed Trevor sightings, they decided to walk back, on their way they were bumped into by a small brown haired boy clutching a fat, squirming toad.

"I found him!" said the boy.

Hermione smiled, "That's great Neville, well we'd best be getting changed into our robes then." By this point, they had reached the compartment that Hermione had found George. He opened the door and as she walked away with Neville he called quietly to her. "Hey, 'Mione, when you get sorted, think Gryffindor really hard…" he winked and disappeared behind the cabin door.

"So…" Fred said, regarding his brother with a mildly serious expression. "A pretty face comes in and you drop us like we're yesterday's jam?"

"Yeah – wait, what?" said Lee.

"Yesterday's ja- never mind that! We just got ditched and you're moaning to me about analogies?" Fred asked, "You _should_ be moaning at lover-boy over here. "

"Lover-boy? What are you talking about? I was only helping her!" George defended.

Fred leaned towards him, clutching his hands to his heart before adopting a higher, girlier voice, "_Oh_ George, _please_ help me find this toad! I've been looking for it for _so long_, please George! You're _so handsome_ George! I bet you could be a Hufflepuff, you're _so good_ at finding things!" he finished, batting his eyelashes at his brother as Lee fell onto the seat in a fit of giggles.

George glared at his twin, "First: I'm pretty sure she didn't say one bit of that apart from 'toad' and Second: You are disturbingly good at that girl voice…" he said, raising an eyebrow at Fred.

Fred cleared his throat and straightened out his robes, "I am a man of many talents, Georgie-boy. Now go get your robes on, we're nearly there and you don't want your girlfriend to see you all dishevelled when she gets sorted into our house," he finished with a wink.


	8. She's A Nightmare!

**_A.N. I've changed the name and direction of this story, I got a bit stuck on where it was going, I was going to have a rivalry with Krum and end at the Yule Ball – hence the name Take Me Dancing but I moved too quickly. I've changed the name to Into Your Arms and I'm going to carry on using flashback chapters to look at their past relationship and that's how I'll continue the story._**

**_Sorry this update took so long and it's quite short, as I said I was stuck for where to go, so now I'll move onto the story…_**

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**_Last chapter_**_: Fred cleared his throat and straightened out his robes, "I am a man of many talents, Georgie-boy. Now go get your robes on, we're nearly there and you don't want your girlfriend to see you all dishevelled when she gets sorted into our house," he finished with a wink._

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**31****st**** October 1992**

It was Halloween, the first holiday of the school year and almost the entire school was gathered in the Great Hall for the annual feast. _Almost _the entire school. Fred, George and Lee were sat at the Gryffindor table and had started to dig in along with the other students. George looked up and down the table but couldn't see Hermione anywhere. He would have normally guessed that she was in the library again, but they had talked at breakfast that morning and she had seemed excited for the feast that evening, so he wondered where she was.

He looked over at Fred, who guessed what he was looking for and shrugged, "Dunno mate, haven't seen her since this morning."

"I'll ask Ron," George said before catching their younger brother's attention, "Have you seen Hermione?"

Both Ron and Harry looked sheepish for a moment and George knew that they had done something. He looked at them with a slight glare and asked, "What happened?"

When Ron didn't offer an answer, he turned to Harry, who answered, "We haven't seen her since class ended. She might have…overheard something…I don't know."

"I think you_ do_ know," Fred interjected, he had grown a soft spot for the tiny Gryffindor after George had become friends with her on the train.

"They do know," Fay Dunbar confirmed from a few seats away, "She's been in the loo's since she heard them talking about her."

George glared at his brother even more, "What did you say?"

"She's a nightmare!" Ron cried, forgetting his awkwardness, "She's always correcting me and-"

"Did it ever occur to you that she's correcting you because you're wrong?" George interrupted.

"Well…yeah, I mean-"

"And if you're wrong then she's trying to help you?" Fred continued.

"But she doesn't have to be so annoying about everything, it's no wonder why she hasn't got any friends!"

"She has got friends!"

"When did that happen?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"Around the time you were busy getting your spells wrong." Fred answered.

At that moment, Professor Quirrell burst through the doors and started shouting about a troll. Dumbledore shouted over the uproar of panicked students and the staff and prefects started to lead the students back to their dormitories.

"Hermione," George whispered to his twin, "She doesn't know about the troll!"

"We can go fin-"

"No!" Percy said, clapping a hand on a shoulder of each twin. "I don't need another letter from Mum about how you two are always getting into trouble-"

"But Perce! It's-"

"No! You aren't going off to find a troll! Now come on, back to the tower," he said pushing them along with the rest of the crowd.

Ron and Harry followed quietly behind until George spun around with a menacing scowl and they scampered away, understanding that it was now up to them to make up with Hermione and warn her about the troll.


End file.
